Green things a-growing

It's the end of January already, this month really seems to have flown by. Today, it feels really spring-like, and I found a few signs that the warmer weather may be on the way, so I took some pics. Please bear in mind, I'm not a very good photographer, in fact, it is surprising that none of the following feature my thumb. Plus, I don't have a clue how to do any more than point and click, zoom and focus are wasted on me.

I noticed that there seemed to be buds on our red currant bush, so I took this - the tree in the background is a eucalyptus, that stays green all year round.

Then, I spotted daffodil leaves sprouting up underneath. Looking at the tips, I think the frost the other day has burnt them slightly:

And in the lawn, grape hyancinths:

A meme and a dream

I have revamped and reworked the film/movie themed meme blog I set up ages ago and promptly forgot about. It is now new and improved and I have posted a wonderfully fascinating Question of the Week. OK, it's probably not that wonderful, or fascinating, but it is marginally more interesting than day-time television. Now, if that isn't a selling point I don't know what is.

Last night I had the oddest dream. It wasn't unpleasant, just strange, and in many respects quite profound. I had moved to Cornwall (I don't know why, that bit didn't come up) and I had a job working for a man who called himself Edward Woodward, but who looked just like the man who used to mow the grass at my secondary school. My only duty was to take a photo of the sunset every evening because he said they were so beautiful yet transitory they should be captured and preserved for all time. He was right, the sunsets in this dream were absolutely stunning, (and in colour), far more vivid and breath-taking than any I have ever seen in real life. Streaks of purple, yellow, pink and gold blazed in the sky, the reflection turning the sea below into an astonishing riot of colour. Every evening I would go outside to photograph this natural wonder while sitting on a cliff top surrounded by flowers and butterflies. That's all there was to it, but without wishing to sound all New Age-y I feel sure my subconscious is trying to tell me something. Maybe, that I need to buy a new lawn mower?



Technorati Tags: film+meme, movie+meme, meme+about+directors, dreams

Curiouser and Curiouser

This has been a strange week for news. Last Monday, our local evening news programme covered the story of a 2 year old boy who was banned from a shop for the heinous crime of wearing a coat with a hood. (Go and have look at his photo, looks like a hardened criminal doesn't he? Don't be fooled by those big, blue eyes, it's a well known fact that criminals are getting younger.) This was followed on Wednesday by the news that an 87 year old man was asked for proof of his age when attempting to purchase a bottle of sherry. WTF? I can understand the supermarket in question wishing to deter under-age drinkers, but I believe they have gone a little too far in the other direction when someone who was old enough to drink before WW2 is asked to prove their age.

Today, I heard the strangest news item of all, something even more peculiar than the idea that anyone could be suspicious of a toddler wearing a coat on a cold day, or the concept that someone might think an octogenarian was really a school boy in disguise. So strange was this news I couldn't quite believe what I had heard and rushed to check Google news for the real story. Bizarrely, my first impression was correct and the government really are considering introducing waiting lists for prisons.

By the way, this is my 300th post here. Hoorah! I didn't notice this landmark was coming up, but I now I have, I'll have to think of some interesting way to mark the occasion.


Technorati Tags: two+year+old+banned+for+hood, 87+year+old+asked+for+proof+of+age, uk+government, uk+politics, home+office, prison+waiting+lists

Tee Hee

In the absence of anything more interesting to say here's a cartoon featuring an over-zealous 'Mommy Blogger'.

More weather related stuff

You may be interested to know that Winter is about to arrive in the UK. Snow has been forecast for this weekend. And if you are wondering why we have had such extreme, but mild weather, this article in the Times explains all.

There has been a huge amount of damage around here, the roof blew off the school sports hall (no one was hurt) a number of trees are down, and practically every other garden fence. In town it is even worse - it's higher up - Number Three Son arrived home last night and casually informed me that he had nearly been hit by a flying roof tile. It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did I came over all pathetic and had to sit down. You can see a photo of the street this happened on here - the building in the first photo is a bank, he was walking past when the tiles first started to come loose.

Good news on the window front. It turned out it wasn't about to fall in on my head. One of the opening bits (notice my use of technical terms) needed new hinges, and it is now secure - I hope.

It's Crash Helmet Weather

Really! The expression 'blowing a gale' does not adequately describe the sheer force of the wind. Added to which we had torrential rain this morning and it appears to be about to start again. I went out to get some milk and discovered the archway in our front garden lying several feet away from it's usual position. Closer inspection revealed that it had snapped off at the base. More worryingly, the kitchen window appears to be wobbling from time to time. I'm not an expert in these matters, but that's not right is it? They aren't supposed to do that are they?

In a strange ironic twist, on the day we have had possibly the worst weather of the year I received the latest newsletter from the UK Phenology Network. I say ironic because in the midst of a tempest I'm am being urged to look for signs of Spring. My first reaction was something along the lines of WTF, but then I reconsidered. We are already more than halfway through January so Spring is just around the corner - hopefully.

A few days ago, Cotswoldgent mentioned he had seen a snowdrop in bud, and it won't be long before our crocuses start to peep above ground. The thing is, we haven't had any snow yet. I know there is still plenty of time, but I would have expected some by now. It was the same last year. We did get a light covering but nothing to get excited about, I don't think there would have been enough for snowball fights, let alone the building of snowmen. I'm sure this isn't normal in Yorkshire. Every other winter (that I have lived here) has brought huge volumes of snow. So much snow that schools are closed and people can be seen digging a pathway from their house to the street. Where has it gone? Is it global warming or just a blip? Dunno. It's worrying though.

Thinking about Spring - it's time I planned what we are going to grow this year. I do want to try some new vegetables, but space is a problem. Last year I experimented with containers, and that worked quite well - beans and tomatoes were a great success. I don't think it would work so well for my most wanted vegetable though. Potatoes. I saw Alan Titchmarsh grow a few in a container on a old episode of Gardeners World, but it was only a few. I can't see containers providing enough to keep up with heavy duty spud consumption.

I will be adding beetroot to my range though. I have never grown them before, because for years I was convinced that I didn't like them. I have no idea why. However, Mr Blogs persuaded me to try a piece of pickled beetroot at Christmas and like Mr Del Monte, I said YES! Now, I'm a complete beetroot convert, bordering on an evangelist. Before you know it, I'll be putting up a website to proclaim the wonders of beetroot to the world. And that is not as odd as it sounds - there is already a similar site for carrots, it's actually more interesting than it sounds.

Twitterings from my mailbox

I'm afraid I have had to enable comment moderation. Last night I was visited by a troll - that in itself isn't a problem, most trolls are of the one off, surf by variety. However, although this particular individual posted anonymously, I strongly suspect that I know her (or his) identity based on the word usage, style of writing and also the location from which she (or he) posted. I encountered this individual a couple of months ago on another blog I visit and I am aware that she (or he) likes to return to the scene of the crime and reiterate her (or his) opinions in ever more unpleasant terms. Therefore, not wishing to leave anything offensive lying around, I hope you will understand if you have to wait a little while to have your comment published.

And speaking of odd comments, I noticed the following in amongst the comment spam on my other blog - you will need to click the image to see it full sized:


Most of the comment spam I receive is pretty dull. Links to nekkid lady sites, ads for products to enhance 'performance' and body parts, the usual suspects, but this was different and quite intriguing. I was almost tempted to click the link to discover just what it was they could ship in days. Trying to interpret this cryptic missive, I wondered, is it some kind of electric fence made out of hair? Once again, my mind is boggled.


One more thing - this is good! I received an email yesterday from Chris Baty of NaNoWriMo fame which contained news of a new challenge for 2007. The idea is, well, I'll let Chris explain:

"Think for a moment about those activities, classes, and endeavors that you've long daydreamed about, but have never quite got around to tackling. I'm talking about the roads less traveled---the tuba lessons, the family-history writing, the foreign language learning, the transformation of your living room into a multi-story race course for feral hamsters. These are the nonessential creative activities that get us in over our heads, bring new people into our lives, and help make life more magical.

As adults, we tend to steer clear of these pursuits because they t ake time and cost money. But putting off all our adventures for later comes with its own set of costs. Our souls become dry and brittle. Our energy levels sag. Our noses fall off.

Which is why I'm inviting you to pick a couple never-before-attempted endeavors that have long intrigued and daunted you, and then do them in 2007."

I'm going to have a go, but first I need to figure out which things on my list of things I want to do will be achievable before November (you may remember I mentioned this list in the post about my birthday) I have one definite, and a couple of possibles, so I'll fill you in on the details in a future post. Anyhow, if you are up for a challenge, pop along to this page - you will need to sign up if you aren't a member, but it's free - and post your list.

A Spot of Name Calling

It seems Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog, have received approximately 200 complaints about racism on the current series of celebrity Big Brother, the Channel 4 programme which involves confining a group of people to a house and encouraging them to act like complete idiots.

I'm not going to comment on that because I haven't seen the programme, and also because I'm sure the producers are lapping up all the attention, after all, even bad publicity is good. However I was rather puzzled by one thing. One of the people who has been accused of racism is Jackiey Budden, the mother of Jade (pig in a wig) Goody. She is alleged to have repeatedly claimed she could not pronounce the name of Bollywood actress, Shilpa Shetty, instead referring to her as 'the Indian' or 'Princess'. Notice anything about the spelling of Ms Budden's first name? Shouldn't it be Jackie, or Jackey? Why the extra letter? She struggles with a simple name such as Shilpa, but expects the rest of us to figure out her own bizarrely spelt moniker. How do you pronounce that? Jack-ee-ee? Or is she so incredibly thick that she needs the extra syllable to remind her that she isn't just called Jack. Although, having seen her, I could easily believe that was the name she started life with.

Putting my claws away now.

Are You Looking For Me?

Some time ago I stopped looking at the visitor stats for my blogs because I discovered a number of people were actually finding them by searching for me. Well, I assume it was me, maybe there is some other Kate Blogs around who I don't know about, but either way, it was rather creepy. Anyhow, I have now summoned up the courage to once more delve into the realm of my blog stats and will now present you with the most popular recent search terms for this blog. As always, in the interests of providing a public service I will, where appropriate, offer answers, explanations and suggestions.

1) terry gilliam the hobbit - I expect they found this post

2) quiz what kind type of woman am i? - urm, I don't know. The kind who feels the need to ask a search engine questions about your personality?

3) how was the health situation in england in the olden days before the nhs - there is a long answer and a short answer to this question. I could provide the former, but space doesn't permit that, so instead here is the short answer: crap!

4) most watched things on sky over christmas 2006 - the only thing members of the Blogs household watched on Sky over Christmas was The Hogfather, which may be the answer to your question. If not, I suspect it was some imported junk which featured many large breasted women.

5) toby stephens damien lewis looks like - I knew I wasn't the only one who got them confused!

6) something about independence day - something about Independence Day? Umm. Will Smith's bum looked extremely good in that uniform. Oh, and it's one of my favourite films too.

7) bucks fizz nazi - pardon? Which one?

8) nixxie finally working domain - I hope so. Yeah, go Nixxie, you can get WordPress working.

9) flylady - OMG not her! I guess this person read all about my ordeal at the hands of the dreaded tyrant that is Flylady.

10) enid blyton controversy faraway tree - oh, poor old Enid. The controversy follows her still. Mind you, it's not the Faraway Tree people should worry about, it's Mr Pinkwhistle.

11) gordon ramsey footballer unofficial biography arrested - I don't believe that. How can a book get arrested? And anyway, Gordon Ramsey is a chef, not a footballer.

12) to son on his birthday - Happy Birthday that persons son!

13) what does orlando bloom think of sean bean - he is probably extremely jealous because SB is infinitely more appealing to the girlies than he is. Having said that OB scrubs up quite well.

14) mona lisa rated r - why? Who was doing the rating, pirates? R, that do be the Mona Lisa.

Will the human race ever populate another planet?

I wrote this post as part of the Love to Lead project. If you would be kind enough to vote for me, we will both be in with the chance of winning a laptop.

We, the human race, live in a time of climate change, and if the experts on this matter are to be believed then within a relatively short period of time life on this planet will become, if not unsustainable, then extremely difficult. Therefore, the colonisation of another planet makes a great deal of sense. However, this could not happen overnight.

As far as we know, there are no planets within travelling distance which would be suitable for human beings to simply land on and set up home. In order to make any given planet amenable to human life, a programme of environmental engineering would need to be put in place to alter the climate, atmosphere and terrain to the sort of conditions we could live in. This is not something which could happen in a short time frame, it would take centuries before the chosen planet had been optimised, for want of a better word.

Of course, small numbers of people could live within artificially created environments, but it would not be possible to sustain large populations in such a manner. While some may feel that this could be described as humans populating a new planet, I don't think it really can. The word population suggests a growing, evolving society, not a small enclave which is subject to restrictions (in terms of movement and numbers for example) which stunt the natural growth one would expect to see in an earth based society.

If we had unlimited time, I believe it would be perfectly likely that human beings would populate another planet. We are resourceful and adaptable, and have managed to thrive in what are often less than ideal circumstances. However, it appears that we do not have unlimited time, and the time we have available is not enough for us to be able to embark on such a grand scheme. Therefore, I think it unlikely that humans will ever populate another planet.

Five Travel Related Things About Me

Glennia has kindly tagged me for a 'five things about me' meme. Because I have done this kind of meme before, I decided to give this one a theme. So, without further ado, here are five travel related things about me:

1) My first holiday without my parents was to Germany, a wonderful place, I had a great time. During the trip, my friends and I decided to visit Berlin - in those days it was still a divided city, one part capitalist West Berlin, the other communist East Berlin. Although, I was aware of this before I went, to actually see a city and a country divided both physically and ideologically had an enormous impact on me. It was both strange and sad to see people, who were in many cases related, being forced to live completely separate and different lives because of events over which they had little or no control.

2) Around the same time, the same group of friends and I went for an evening out in the town of Malvern. On our way home, we realised we did not have enough petrol, and went in search of a garage in the small Cotswold town we were driving through (I won't name it for reasons that will become apparent). There was only one garage and it was closed, so we stopped a local man and asked him if he knew of the location of a petrol station. He pointed across at the one we had just found and responded 'Yeah, that be one'. Realising we had encountered the village idiot, we asked in more specific terms if he knew of the whereabouts of a petrol station that was open. He replied in the negative, 'We don't have nothing like that around here'.

So, we decided to ask at the local police station - in those days, small towns still had such things. The desk sergeant backed up the VI, there was no garage open at that time of night (it was about 10.15) but he could help. A mini-bus belonging to a youth club had broken down on the outskirts of the town and as they were Christians he was sure they would let us have a can of petrol. We enquired how we were supposed to get at said petrol, and he replied that it would be easy because a few days before a local man had been arrested for syphoning petrol out of cars and they (the police) still had the tube. It did cross our minds that we were becoming accomplices in a 'fit up', but not wishing to spend a minute longer than was necessary in this increasingly odd place we kept our mouths shut.

3) When I was three, my Mum and I went to visit a friend of hers who lived in Canterbury. One day we went somewhere on a bus - I don't know where - when we arrived at our stop, my Mum helped her friend lift her daughter's pram off, and as soon as they had done so, the driver closed the doors and drove off with me still on board. Not surprisingly, I was a little perturbed and burst into tears, trying to explain to the driver, between sobs, that I should have got off at the previous stop. He took no notice of me, until an elderly woman, stomped up, told him he was an idiot and demanded that he stop immediately. I'm still not keen on bus drivers.

4) My ex-husband and I had many disagreements about map reading. He believed only men could do it, I knew this was a fallacy. At some time in the early '90s we were driving down to the south coast to visit some friends, when his lack of map reading skills got us lost in Henley on Thames. We needed to find the road to Reading, and the only person around that we could ask was a very grand, tweed suited lady carrying a small wicker shopping basket. I wound down the window and asked for directions to the Reading road. At this she looked aghast and responded, 'One never goes to Reading'.

The ex-husband gave up his claims of superior map readership after a trip to Ripon, when, due to his lack of direction, we ended up on the outskirts of Birmingham.

5) As you probably know, I don't fly, the very idea terrifies me. However this isn't a problem because you can get to some very nice places by boat. Whenever I am on a crossing which sails into Dover, I always come over all emotional at the sight of the White Cliffs. I have no idea why, I'm not overtly patriotic, but seeing them rising up in the distance brings a lump to my throat.

I won't tag anyone in particular, but if you would like to have a go, feel free, and don't forget to leave a comment so we can all come and have a read.

PC not working? You need to feed the hamsters!

Kim over at The Ramblings of the Bearded One discusses the problem of being mistaken for a computer genius simply because you can cobble a bit of HTML together. I sympathise because this happens to me too. Even worse, because I happen to have my own in house technical support department (Mr Blogs) people assume that his knowledge has some how rubbed off on me and I too can diagnose their computer problems, often over the phone without even seeing the machine. The truth is, I know nothing about computers. I can turn one on, install programmes, empty the temp folders and that's about it. The inner workings are a complete mystery, just a jumble of wires and boxes and things I couldn't identify if my life depended on it. However, no matter how often I tell people this it doesn't seem to sink in.

I wonder if the same people think tv presenters can also fix televisons? Or that the spouses of brain surgeons stand in on days the surgeon isn't available?

In future when I encounter such people I think I will try a new approach. Instead of politely explaining I don't have a clue why their thingy won't connect to their oozit and their screen has gone blank, I shall tell them it's time to feed the hamsters. That's how computers work isn't it? Hamster power?

Would you like some toast with your marmite?

Sons Numbers Four and Five returned to school this morning after the Christmas holiday. Thirty minutes later they arrived home again. School doesn't re-open until Monday. Apparently, a letter was sent out alerting parents to the fact that the day had been changed from Thursday to Monday. I didn't see it until Number Five Son dug it out from the bottom of his bag ten minutes after he arrived back home. The only other pupil to turn up was Number Five Son's friend - another hoarder of school letters. Hmm, maybe this will teach them both that handing over said communications is to their advantage.

A couple of days ago I discovered something rather surprising. Cheese is now classed as junk food, but apparently oven chips aren't. I have to say, there is a bit of a flaw in this because the decision was based on the consumption of 100 grams of a given food at a time, but I'm sure very few people would eat equal amounts of cheese and oven chips. However, that is not what I wish to quibble about. No, what is even weirder is the fact that Marmite has made it onto the list of junk foods. Marmite? What kind of depraved individual would eat 100 grams of Marmite? Off the top of my head I seem to recall that 100 grams is the size of a large jar. I love the stuff, but a tiny scraping is quite enough, there are no circumstances under which I could imagine spreading a whole jar onto my toast.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know it was yesterday, but the year is still new and unused. All fresh and sparkling and ready to become whatever we want to make of it, and with that in mind I hope 2007 will be everything you want it to be.

We spent new year's eve quietly. Sons Numbers One, Two and Three all went off to parties, leaving Sons Numbers Four and Five at home with Mr Blogs and I. I had toyed with the idea of cooking something interesting, but in the end we opted for a take-away - well, I did. I have cooked enough to feed several armies over the last couple of weeks and decided I would have a night off. We also decided to avoid new years eve television and re-watched the Hogfather (on Sky over Christmas) this was interrupted by fireworks, at which point we guessed 2007 had begun. After the Bloglets went off to bed, Mr Blogs and I watched Deathwatch* with Andy Serkis and that bloke from My Family and the BT ads.

And that was our new year's eve - once again you can see what fascinating and sophisticated folk we are LOL

On the subject of fireworks and new year's eve - when did the former become a part of the latter? I'm sure I don't remember this happening before the millennium celebrations, but since then it seems to have become 'a tradition'. On the whole I don't mind fireworks, but I'm sure there must be people who find it alarming to suddenly find themselves in the midst of a display at midnight, and others who then have to spend an hour calming and resettling young children who have been woken by them.

* A fairly low budget British horror set in WW1. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it - this was the second time I have watched it - it has a dark, menacing atmosphere, some interesting characters and is a little more thoughtful than the typical, high budget hack and slash effort.